Patent bound book and method of making such books



De@ 20, 1966 R. 1 scHoENBERGr-:R 3,292,951

PATENT BOUND BOOK AND METHOD OF MAKING SUCH BOOKS Filed May 25, 1966 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Fui@ Dec. 20, 1966 R. L. scHoENBERGr-:R 3,292,951

PATENT BOUND BOOK AND METHOD OF MAKING SUCH BOOKS Filed May 25, 1966 :s sheets-sheet 2 FUE- E Dec 20, 1966 y R. L. SCHOENBERGER 3,292,951

PATENT BOUND BOOK AND METHOD OF MAKING SUCH BOOKS 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed May 25, 1966 United States Patent O 3,292,951 PATENT BOUND BOOK AND METHOD OF MAKING SUCH BOOKS Robert L. Schoenberger, Glencoe, Ill., assignor to R. R.

Donnelley & Sons Company, a corporation of Dela- Ware Filed May 25, 1966, Ser. No. 554,635 11 Claims. (Cl. 281-21) This invention 'relates to patent bound rounded and backed books and to methods of producing such books. This .application is -a continuation-in-part of my copending application 410,898, filed November 13, 1964, now abandoned.

The conventional method for making patent bound rounded and backed books is described as follows. Signatures are flat gathered, jogged and transferred to a patent binder in which the gathered unbound books are clamped firmly. In the binder the book ibackbones are cut, roughened, cleaned and glued. After the glue has dried or set, the books are piled o on load platforms, and are thereafter processed in a system or line consisting basically of a trimmer, rounder-backer-liner, case-in and a building-in machine.

The above conventional binding method has several deficiencies, which are explained hereinbelow.

Since the adhesive is applied to the gathered unbound book 'before the rounding and backing operation, the adhesive covers only the roughened rear edge of each sheet. In other words, the area of adhesive -application is limited to the thickness of each sheet. This limited area of application affords less page pull strength than would a larger area of application including the margins of each sheet -adjacent to the rear edge.

Further, since the adhesive is applied before rounding and backing, it is deformed in the course of this operation. If the adhesive is resilient or elastic, it tends after this deformation to return to its original condition, with resultant loss of rounded shape in the book. If the adhesive is rigid rather than resilient, it tends to split during rounding and backing. As -a result, the adhesives used in the convention-al `binding method can be neither very resilient nor very rigid or resistant to deformation, and the adhesives which must be used are deficient in binding strength and ability to retain book shape.

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the book is rounded and backed without any adhesive on the backbone, Iand the .adhesive is applied after rounding yand backing. Specifically, the preferred method of the present invention includes the following steps. The signatures are fiat gathered and jogged; the backbones are glued with an inexpensive glue, such as animal glue, in a simple covering or gluing machine; the glue is dried; the head, foot and fore-edge of each book are trimmed; the trimmed book is clamped in a rounderhacker-liner; the backbone glue and the backbone signature folds are milled off and the backbone is roughened; the book is rounded and backed; -binding .adhesive is applied to the exposed and fanned pages of the backbone and dried; supers, liners yand headbands are applied, if required; and the book is then cased-in.

In a first alternative or modilied method, the backbones of the at gathered and clamped signatures are cut and a temporary adhesive is applied to the cut area to hold together the individual sheets; the book is then trimmed, and the other subsequent steps as discussed in the preceding paragraph are carried out. In this case, only the temporary adhesive is removed in the rounder-linerbacker, the signature folds having been cut in -a previous step.

The above alternative or modied method is also ap- 3,292,951 Patented Dec. 20, 1966 ICC plicable to two-page signatures, i.e., signatures made up of a single unfolded sheet. In this specification and in the claims the term signature is intended to include twopage signatures.

In a second alternative method, the book is rounded with the temporary adhesive on it, and the `adhesive is then milled off with an hourglass milling cutter o1' a wire brush before the book is backed. This alternative is applicable to the preferred method, in which case the milling cutter or wire brush may be used to mill olf the folded signature edges, yand is also applicable to the first alternative method, in which case only the temporary adhesive is removed by the milling cutter or wire brush.

The advantage of the second alternative method is that it eliminates the possibility of sheets or signatures slipping out of place during the rounding operation.-

The use of a wire brush instead of .a milling cutter roughens and frays the re-ar margins of the sheets so as to give a better bond between the sheets and the permanent adhesive which is applied after the book is backed.

Yet another alternative is applicable to all of the foregoing methods, and involves the performance of an additional step in which the spine of the rounded and backed book is heated with infra-red heat lamps or an incandescent gas burner immediately before the permanent adhesive is applied. The most desirable adhesives are of the hot melt type and penetration of the adhesive between the fanned rear marginal portions of the sheets is promoted by preheating the spine of the book.

The book produced by the method of the present invention is structurally different from a conventional patent bound rounded and backed book. In the book of the present invention, the rear portions of all the sheets are fanned, or spread apart, so that as the adhesive is applied, it can penetrate between the sheets and will cover not only the rear edge of each sheet but also the adjacent margins of each page, with resultant greatly increased page pull strength. Further, since the adhesive is not subjected to deformation, it is possible to give the books more rounding and more sharply defined joints, without setting up elastic forces that would cause loss of rounded shape. The page-to-page tipping, besides effecting the increased page pull strength mentioned Iabove, Ialso serves to maintain the rounded shape of the book by increasing the resistance to page slipping.

Other features -of the invention will be apparent from the following description and the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary transverse sectional View, on an enlarged scale, of a patent bound rounded `and backed book according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary diagrammatic view on an enlarged scale of the book of FIG. 1 in an early stage of its manufacture, showing some signatures in a gathered untrimmed book held together with a temporary adhesive;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary diagrammatic view on an enlarge scale of an unbound book representing ya modification of the book of FIG. 2 and showing a few sheets held together by temporary adhesive;

FIG. 4 is a diagrammatic view on an enlarged scale of the book of FIG. 2 or the book of FIG. 3 in a later stage of manufacture showing the book after a rounding step;

FIG. 5 is a diagrammatic view on -an enlarged scale of the book of FIG. 4 in a later stage of manufacture showing the book of FIG. 4 after the backing step has been completed and .a permanent adhesive has been applied;

FIG. 6 is a diagrammatic fragmentary view of an unbound book which has been rounded with the temporary adhesive in place;

FIG. 7 is a diagrammatic fargmentary view ofthe book of FIG. 6 with the hourglass milling cutter positioned to mill off the temporary adhesive;

FIG. 8 is a view likeFIG. 7 but illustrating the use of a rotary wire brush to remove the temporary adhesive; and

FIG. 9 is a diagrammatic view of the steps of the method in which the spine of theV rounded and backed book is preheated and the hot melt adhesive is applied.

Referring more specifically to FIG. l, the reference numeral 10 indicates generally a nished book according to the present invention having a case 11 formed with a rounded back 12 and hinge joints 13. Within the case are disposed a plurality of sheets 14 covered by coextensive inner end sheets 15 attached to the rear portions of the outermost sheets 14a by adhesive 16. As shown, the sheets 14 are fanned or 1spread rearwardly of the joints 13. The book 10 further includes outer end sheets 17 terminating short of the joints 13 and adhesively attached at their rear margins to the inner end sheets 15, as indicated at 18. The rear margins of the outer end sheets 17 are spaced from the case 11 by strips 19 of drill cloth that extend past the hinge joints 13 to the rounded back 12 and are adhesively attached to the cover 11 by adhesive 20, to the outer end sheets 17 by adhesive 21 in front of the hinge joint, and to the inner end sheets 15 by adhesive 21a behind said joints. In front of the strips 19 the outer end sheets 17 are adhered to the case by means of adhesive 22. The sheets 14, the inner end sheets 15, and the drill cloth 19 are all connected by adhesive 23 which penetrates between the fanned sheets 14 and also -adheres to side portions of the back 12 as seen at 23a.

The specific end sheet structure described above is merely exemplary, and is not an esse-ntial feature of this invention. Many other end sheet arrangements may be used, as will be understood by those skilled in the art.

The method of this invention is illustrated in the diagrammatic representations of FIGS. 2-5. Specifically, FIG. 2 shows signatures 24 folded at 25, at gathered, and jogged to form a gathered book 26 that also includes inside and outside end sheets 15 and 17 and drill cloth 19 adhesively yattached to each other and to an outermost sheet 14a of the outermost signature, as described hereinabove. The signatures 24 are held together by temporary adhesive 27. l

The gathered book 26 of FIG. 2 is formed by applying the temporary adhesive 27 to the folds of the flat gathered signatures 24, for instance, in a simple covering machine, and thereafter tipping the end sheets 15 and 17 and drill cloth 19 to the outermost signature-s, as at 18.

The cut line shown in FIG. 2 indicates where the temporary adhesive 27 and the folds 25 of the signatures will be milled off in a subsequent step.

By way of an 4alternative or modification, FIG. 3 shows individual sheets 14 held together with temporary adhesive 28. The sheets 14 may be two-page signatures, or the folded ends of the signatures may have been trimmed olf before the temporary adhesive is applied.

After temporary ladhesive has been applied to the gathered book, as illustrated in FIG. 2 or 3, the head, foot and fore-edges of the gathered book a-re trimmed by conventional means. Next, the trimmed book is clamped, for instance, in an appropriately modified rounder-backerliner (of which only clamp parts 29 are shown in broken lines), and the temporary adhesive 27 and the folded ends 25 of the signatures 24, or the temporary adhesive 28, as the case may be, are milled olf. Thereafter, the gathered book is rounded with no adhesive on the backbone, as shown in FIG. 4. The rounded book is backed to provide, a hinge line and fan the rear marginal portions of the sheets 14, and permanent binding adhesive 23 is applied to form an unbound book, as shown in FIG. 5. After the adhesive 23 has been dried, or set, the book is cased-in Iand built-in to produce the finished book of FIG. 1. Burls Patent 2,585,433 discloses a typical rounder-backer-liner which may be used to perform the present method when it has been modified by adding the apparatus for milling olf the temporary adhesive.

Referring now to FIG. 6, which illustrates diagrammatically an intermediate step in the second alternative method heretofore described generally, signatures 124 lare illustrated between the clamps 29 of a modified rounderhacker-liner as heretofore described. As seen in FIG. 6, the signatures 124 have temporary adhesive, such as animal glue 127, applied thereto. The signatures have been pushed to their rounded positions by a pusher bar 30 of conventional construction. During the rounding operation the dried temporary adhesive 127 becomes split and cracked, but the adhesive is of a type which has no tendency to distort the sheets after they have been rounded.

Referring now to FIG. 7, the unbound book consisting of the signatures 124 still held between the clamps 29, moves t-o a rounder-backer-liner station at which an hourglass milling cutter 31 rotates in contact with the spine of the unbound book to mill olf the temporary adl hesive 127 and lremove the folded marginal portions of the signatures down to a cut line Y-Y. Upon completion of the step illustrated in FIG. 6, the sheets are as illustrated in greatly enlarged form in FIG. 4.

Referring now to FIG. 8, instead of a milling cutter 31 the apparatus includes a driven rotary wire brush 32 which removes the temporary adhesive 127 and tears out the folded marginal portions of the signatures 124 down to the cut line. Upon completion of the processing step which is illustrated diagrammatically in FIG. 8, the sheets appear as in FIG. 4 except for the fact that their relatively offset rear edges are roughened and frayed, rather thanV being smooth as in FIG. 4.

The adhesive 23 may be of a nature not suitable for use in producing conventional patent bound rounded and backed books, since the adhesive is not subjected to a f rounding and backing operation which would deform it,

so the adhesive 23 can be tough and resistant to deformation. Preferably, a hot melt composition or a plastisol of some suitable formulation, including a wide variety of synthetic resins, may be used. Further, the adhesive may be formulated to take advantage, by penetration into the paper, of the much greaterrarea of paper to adhesive contact afforded by the spacing of the fanned rear margins of the sheets making up the book.

Referring to FIG. 9, the sheets 14 of an unbound book are seen between clamps 29 of a rounder-backer-liner, with the rear marginal portions of the sheets 14 in the fanned disposition which they customarily occupy after they have been backed. An array of infra-red heat lamps 33 is positioned to heat the spine of the unbound book-that is, the fanned rear marginal portions of the sheets which must be penetrated by the permanent adhesive 23 seen in FIG. 5. A heated adhesive pot 34V and adhesive applicator 35 are positioned to apply hot melt adhesive of the type heretofore described. Such adhesives are well known in the book binding art, and since.

the temperatures at which different adhesives are at optimum viscosity varies, no specific temperature for the hot melt adhesive is stated herein. The temperatureviscosity relationships of the various commercially available hot melt adhesives used in the book binding art are i gathered book, the improvement comprising: applying a temporary adhesive to the back of said gathered book and clamping said gathered book, so that the gathered book is temporarily held together for further processing;

rounding said gathered book; backing said gathered book; and applying a permanent adhesive to the back of said clamped, gathered book to form it into a bound book, said temporary adhesive having been removed from the clamped gathered book at a time prior to the backing of the book.

2. A method according to claim 1 in which the temporary adhesive is removed from the clamped, gathered book before the latter is rounded.

3. A method according to claim 1 in which the temporary adhesive is removed from the clamped, gathered book after the latter is rounded.

4. A method according to claim 1 in which the signatures are folded and the folds are disposed at the back of said gathered book, the temporary adhesive is applied to the folds of said signatures, and said temporary adhesive and the folds of the signatures are removed in a single operation.

5. A method according to claim 4 in which the temporary adhesive and the folds of the signatures are removed from the clamped, gathered book before the latter is rounded.

6. A method according to claim 4 in which the temporary adhesive 'and the folds of the signatures are removed from the clamped, gathered book after the latter is rounded.

7. A method according to claim 1 in which the signatures are folded and the folds are disposed at the back of said gathered book, the folds of said signatures are removed before the temporary adhesive is applied to said gathered book, -said adhesive being applied to the sheets along the rear edges that are formed by the removal of the signature folds.

8. A method according to claim 7 in which the temporary adhesive is removed from the clamped, gathered book before the latter is rounded.

9. A method according to claim 1 in which said temporary adhesive is removed by shredding it.

10. A method according to claim 1 in which the permanent adhesive is a hot melt material which is applied hot and the spine of the rounded and backed book iS heated immediately before the adhesive is applied.

11. A patent bound, rounded and backed book comprising a case Aand a plurality of sheets Within said case, the rear margins of said sheets being spread apart, said book further comprising a single homogeneous coating of adhesive attaching the rear margins of said sheets to one another and to said case, said adhesive -coating extending unbrokenly between the spread apart rear margins of all said sheets and all of said coating being free from deformation-induced stresses tending to cause loss of the rounded and backed shape of said book.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,516,446 7/ 1950 Budden 11-5 2,5 16,460 7/1950 Getzof 11-5 2,523,860 9/1950 Budden 281-21 2,572,243 10/1951 Cashin et al. 11-1 2,577,568 12/ 1951 De Florez et al. ll-l 2,585,433 2/1952 Burls 1l-5 3,093,396 6/1963 Segreto 281-21 LAWRENCE CHARLES, Primary Examiner. 

11. A PATENT BOUND, ROUNDED AND BACKED BOOK COMPRISING A CASE AND A PLURALITY OF SHEETS WITHIN SAID CASE, THE REAR MARGINS OF SAID SHEETS BEING SPREAD APART, SAID BOOK FURTHER COMPRISING A SINGLE HOMOGENEOUS COATING OF ADHESIVE ATTACHING THE REAR MARGINS OF SAID SHEETS TO ONE ANOTHER AND TO SAID CASE, SAID ADHESIVE COATING EXTENDING UNBROKENLY BETWEEN THE SPREAD APART REAR MARGINS OF ALL SAID SHEETS AND ALL OF SAID COATING BEING FREE FROM DEFORMATION-INDUCED STRESSES TENDING TO CAUSE LOSS OF THE ROUNDED AND BACKED SHAPE OF SAID BOOK. 